Chapter 5: Discussion

09:45 AM (Japan Time), Saturday February the 1st…

"…Sorry, sorry, sorry~! I overslept!"

"Hikari. You're the same type as always."

"Ahem! Ijuuin – kun. We don't need such comments."

"Roger, sir. I am sorry, sir."

"Don't try to spark hostility this early in the morning."

"Hey! Obihiro… Been a while! What a sprint! The elevator took forever so I had to climb up the stairs…"

"Sit down, Netto. There's talk to do. It involves you."

"Huh? Me?"

"From what we've found out…"

Enzan, Obihiro, Yuuichirou and Oda had gathered in an office of the Net Police's HQ for a meeting when Netto ran in, out of breath; Enzan wasn't surprised but Yuuichirou stopped him from starting a quarrel.

"What have I done now?"

"We wanted to ask you about someone named Kage Miquel."

"What!? Kage Miquel? You've met him? He's here, in Japan!?"

"By all the… He was alright, then?" Rock Man muttered.

"He was your classmate during 1st grade, right?"

"Yeah. Sure was."

"When did you lastly see him?"

"June. The graduation day."

"Where did he go after that? Why isn't he in your class this year? I thought he was a very good student?"

"Guess you've looked that up on a rush… He went to Chicago because his uncle recalled him there! His health was frail and he wanted Miquel to come and help him out, because the man apparently had phobia to hospitals… He went there and we exchanged postcards up until August before all communication ceased abruptly." Netto explained.

"Why didn't you use email or phone?" Enzan frowned.

"His first postcard said there was a lot of bureaucracy and redundant security stuff before someone who'd been off the country even if they had Ameroupe nationality were to be allowed to Plug-In or access to the Internet without someone else's supervision… The postcards were easier to use for communication. Right, Rock Man?"

"Yeah. That was the only way I could exchange messages with Andy, too, because I tried going there but I was denied access. Chicago at the time had a "Bitter Party" faction Mayor, who was very paranoid and distrustful of foreigners coming and leaving through the Internet. He imposed unpopular laws forcing one to go through several immigration checks before finally being given a 24-hour permit which had to be renovated each time and someone had to provide proof you knew each other."

"Yeah, I remember the news. The Bitter Party, a radicial offshoot of the Tea Party movement… Extremely xenophobic! Makes you wonder how such a crazy type made it to Mayor. Guess some backstage deals."

"I see. So? What happened after his last postcard?"

"He said he was torn because his uncle now wanted to enroll him in an academy where he'd studied at during his young times, and was saying that going outside of the country was a bad influence and that he shouldn't have allowed it… He didn't want to abandon us, but he didn't want to disobey his uncle either… He did say that in the end he might cut contact because he'd need some time to think it…" Netto sighed.

"I ran some inquiries and found he'd been in Houston for about a week before disappearing altogether. No – one had seen him or Andy ever since then and he was reported missing. I think he got into trouble there and we've always been hoping he'd eventually contact us…"

"But he didn't?"

"Yeah. When the new grade began and we got told he had sent a notice saying he was going to transfer schools, our hopes sunk. Not only we two, though… The whole class felt like it was a great loss…"

"Well then. The man is in Japan indeed. Obihiro here saw him yesterday evening in Akihara City's 5th district soon-to-be-opened Metro Station with another guy…" Enzan let out the bombshell.

"WHAT!"

"Yeah. I'd gone with Hikari – hakase to visit a programmer I know. He'd gotten into some mess by accepting a job from "Wholy Jisep" and…"

"Wholy Jisep! But wasn't that the name that Koyota man used to invite us to the Scherezade Symphony…?" Netto gasped.

"Yeah. It's an anagram of Joseph Wily too. Anyway. A guy rang and he told us to come to the station to deliver the finished program. I got there ahead of time, and set three traps to seize information about the guy, named Zarashe Wan… His Navi was named Beta X and he looked like a fallen angel…" Obihiro continued.

"And then Miquel showed up?" Netto guessed.

"Yeah. It was so silent that none of us knew he was there until he pressed the silencer of a non-lethal gun against the back of Zarashe's skull! He was in a pretty foul mood."

"Did he still have the bandana and that brown overcoat…?"

"How was Andy? How did he look like?"

"Hostile." Obihiro summed up in one word.

"Hostile? That's a first. He was so nice and kind with everyone… So, what happened next?" Rock Man was surprised.

"Kage asked of him where Zarashe had screwed it up and spotted the three traps without having to move at all! He felt like a detective, even. Cold and analytical."

"Wow. I remember he was a fan of Kindaichi and Detective Conan! He actually became a detective – like character, too… Amazing!"

"Next was Kage explaining to Zarashe how the traps were set and that the programmer was flying to Kyushu by then. He had him search for me, but I hid inside of the locker… They gave it up, and then Kage mentioned Ijuuin – kun saying he'd like to test him out because someone talked about him… Did you talk with him about Ijuuin – kun?" Obihiro finished before asking.

"Sure thing… He was interested in Net Battling! He never pestered me with questions about our adventures. He could beat Guts Man with ease but I wouldn't say he was too powerful, either! He was slightly over the average. I don't think he could hold his ground for too long against Muramasa Blues…" Netto described.

"So! According to you… He was never hostile with anyone?"

"No. Dekao, being the bad loser he is, tried to pick on him but he played deaf and Dekao finally gave it up after the girls and the teachers began to get annoyed with him."

"Something must've happened ever since he vanished in Houston in August and reappears here in February. Half a year, more or less… Maybe he's been recruited by Slur's gang and he's been trained to become a field agent or something?"

"Slur? Who's that?" Rock Man asked.

"I thought we'd told you! Some days ago, there were three incidents… Three Navis named Video Man, Burner Man and Needle Man challenged Blues, Search Man and Tomahawk Man. They were commanded by a female Net Navi named Slur. She said she was a friend of Serenade. She wanted to test us out. And we've confirmed that those three same Navis were standing watch around the station yesterday evening so they're in the same club."

"Weird… Why would they want to force a programmer to come up with that program whatever it is then?" Netto frowned.

"Does it have that much of a value?"

"It's an energy conversion program. It can have several applications, but we're not sure what they want it to. They've been around for over a year's time so they had to be around while Kage was still a student in your class. Maybe they were just starting."

"That may be why he vanished! He met those guys and decided to join!"

"We've drawn a rough schematic from their talk, here you have."

"President and VP… Slur… Miquel and that Zarashe guy… Andy and the Beta X guy… Some "Ice Queen" and their Net Navi… The three solo Navis… There could be other Navis… Mr. Sniper… Ms. Sniper…"

"Yeah. Unfortunately, it's too vague and we've got no clue of what their name is to begin with. They have a HQ but Kage seems to be staying elsewhere. We did run a search but no register appeared with his name anywhere, obviously enough! He must be using a fake one."

"Why don't you ask if someone has seen that Zarashe guy around here?"

"We're on it. Higure identified him as the waiter in the Akihara City Hotel, the one who none of the staff seemed to know about. I guess that that Kage man is the one who sent me that stupid challenge letter, too."

"Oh. That mysterious disappearance which the TV talked about a week ago… So… Have you found out how they did it?"

"Nope. Uncle Moran must want to make us sweat a bit." Oda sighed.

"Quit it, Superintendent." Yuuichirou sighed.

"It's pointless."

"I know, I know…"

"By the way… Did something happen to Forte? He doesn't seem to be roaming around the Reverse Internet anymore… Not like we want to bump into him, we just use the area for training from time to time…"

"That Slur immobilized him in some weird ropes and then threw him inside of some vortex or another! I guess he's still inside of that thing for all we know."

"Yet, Rock Man… No Navis have tried to approach you lately?"

"What? No. Why should they? I'm totally rusted and even Guts Man can drive me into a tight spot by now." He admitted.

"Good point. If they saw that, then they wouldn't bother to send a strong opponent… Or maybe they didn't because Serenade trusted in you, so that Slur woman decided to leave you alone…"

"It's at times like these that Uncle Merton would rather tell me to ring the rusted bell Meijin hides on his coat's right pocket."

"W-what?" Meijin uttered.

"What the fuck?" Punk cursed.

"So! Am I right?"

"No, sir!" Meijin grumbled.

"Uncle Merton is always right."

"I doubt it, sir." Meijin was skeptical by now.

"By the way… Maybe the reason he had to go back was because his uncle wanted to scold him and that could be the reason why he wrote letters so that they couldn't be blocked or intercepted…?"

"Could be. We'd have to locate that uncle of his somehow. Maybe if we look at the Chicago police database regarding missing persons we'll find some clue." Enzan nodded in agreement.

"It'd seem he's had dumb luck in life… His parents probably passed away in some accident or another given how he never talked of them and told us not to ask…" Rock Man sighed.

"Good. We'll be running investigations. You can head back already: I'll contact you if something else pops out. I guess that's enough for this meeting. You're dismissed, gentlemen! Uncle Merton will give you a miniature electrical fan which has a rusted blade!"

"How improbable." Everyone grumbled.

"Wait! There's more! The club of 12 purple hodded fellows will be visited by the almighty Loki and will be fooled by him!"

"What in the…" Meijin groaned.

"By the way. Hikari. Don't you think it's a coincidence that that man's surname is "Kage"?" Enzan asked Netto.

"Huh? Never paid much heed to it, actually."

"The curious part is that we found no register of his uncle. Which leads us to guess that "Kage" isn't his real surname and he changed his name or is using an alias to appeal as "cool"…" Meijin explained.

"Oh, really? Well. There's lotta people who use nicknames on the net, you know. If he wants to go with that name, he's free to. If he could travel in a plane with no issues, I guess that that name change is valid."

"Good point." Enzan rubbed his chin.

"Beware, my fellows! The mighty Hulk is gonna crush all watermelons and ready us watermelon juice jars!"

"Watermelons don't produce juice, sir!" Yuuichirou sighed.

"It's a miracle we haven't gone mad yet." Blues grimly muttered.

"I must agree with you there." Rock Man sighed.

"Good lil storms! The middle storms greet the big storms! And the huge storms croak like frogs!"

"That makes ZERO SENSE! SIR!" Meijin snapped.

"Complain to the syndicate of storming storms."

"Oh come on! Danna! Get serious or else we'll be made fun of!"

"Let's leave him to laugh at the walls!" Yuuichirou suggested.

"Agreed, sir! Let's get outta here!" Obihiro grumbled.

"The impatient chads, always in a rush to catch the train… Uncle Merton would rather use the Harley-Davidson, indeed!"

10:34 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Where might you be going? Comrade?"

"Yikes! Don't give me those scares. I forgot something in the trunk of my bike! And you look at me like I was gonna sneak out after the scolding the President gave me for almost jeopardizing the whole gang…!"

"My bad, Zarashe."

"No, no. He deserves it, really."

"Beta! Don't switch sides!"

"Who said I was in yours?"

"Jeez! You're starting to imitate Snake when he had the Mr. X knock Raiden out and reminding him he'd never said he was on his side to begin with…!"

"Have you seen Kage?"

"Kage? The Wesker look-alike? No!"

"No problem, then. I'll contact them."

Zarashe was inside of an underground parking somewhere, walking over to his motorbike when a voice boomed out from behind; he whipped around to see a figure hidden by the darkness yet it had a strong reddish glow to its body.

"Why is everyone so… stiff? Rigid? Why can't you be more flexible? We look like bureaucrats!" He exasperatedly asked.

"Good question, Zarashe, good question… Maybe Rigid Man passed his illness into us."

"That sounds like that Oda old man…"

"Superintendent Oda! Have some respect for him even if they're our opponents, Zarashe – kun!" Beta X scolded.

"A-alright, Danna…"

"I'd rather say Uncle Moran is on our side so I'm going to meet Enzan at last and make him sweat a bit!"

"Sheesh! So selfish! The VP's Navi… And Commander…!"

"Get serious! Envy won't lead us anywhere."

"Oh yeah? And what about Ice Queen's Navi?" He teased with a grin.

"Ice Queen's Navi ain't involved! Go play Twilight Princess instead. Or the recently-launched The Legend of Zelda: Land's Steam-Whistle for the DS too…" Beta X grumbled and looked away.

"Caught ya~… She wants you to be her pet, right? That fits with your personality too, right? You were envious of my deal with her, right? It's refreshing, man!" Zarashe's lowered his voice to an exaggerated conspiracy hush-hush tone.

"I've got no interest in your little games with the gal. I'm your buddy, yeah, but that doesn't mean I don't respect your privacy. Remember to not to say those things aloud. Because when M. Sniper gets a hold of that, trouble ensues!" He fumed and looked elsewhere.

"Scary Guy showed up with the 7:17 PM express from Devonshire!"

"No. End of the tale."

"Alright! I'll yield the screen time to that guy but I'm gonna find a way to sneak into the screen too!"

"Sheesh. This ain't a competition, you know. The President would disapprove of that, you know."

"Huff! Don't get me started on the President's anger again. Guess that's what an angry father must feel like, indeed."

"Be glad he had enough with imposing a "house arrest" for a couple of days. He could've had you broom and mop the whole HQ."

"YIKES! Yeah, yeah, I know! Don't give him ideas!"

"He who warns a traitor is not!"

"Sheesh! I know that! We should do some VR training to be up to shape for the next time we get a mission. Next time it might involve busting some morons."

"Good point. I heard from Needle Man that there's some morons trying to set up opium smuggling. Depending on the scale of the business, we might get dispatched to neutralize them and leak the info to the cops." Beta X rubbed his chin.

"Truly! My Beretta is thirsty for action."

"Remember that it's not an automatic gun and you must reload manually after each shot. So don't get confident." Beta X reminded him.

"I know, I know. The instructor made sure to teach us during our gun training. We've got the flash-bang grenades too."

"By the way… Burner Man and Video Man… Don't you think those two are gonna have a fight one day? Video Man hates the sight of fire because magnetic tape can be destroyed by fire…" Beta X warned.

"Good point… I guess we should tell Commander to keep tabs on them, and assign them different missions…" Zarashe suggested.

"OK. I'll send him that suggestion."

Zarashe reached the door of the stairs and climbed them up until the 1st floor; he exited into a windowless corridor with an arched ceiling and fluorescent tubes hanging from there to provide light; several labelled doors lined up in both sides of the corridor.

"Sent. Speaking of which, Video Man sent me a message. He was asking about whether a "Death Match" of Blackbeard VS Barbarossa would be popular. I told him "dunno" because, honestly, those "matches" have never interested me." Beta X explained, rolling his eyes.

"Each one to their tastes. But pitting characters of different series doesn't make sense because you take them out their context, and so…"

Hmpf! Wait for me, fellows! Zarashe – sama is so gonna mop the floor with those weaklings on it! Wonderful! Let's rock and roll!